Hot as Sin (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #2)(29)
Author: Bella Andre

She wasn’t at all surprised by the local firefighter’s tall, rugged good looks. Hotshots were a shockingly good-looking bunch who attracted women like bees to nectar. Dianna knew firsthand how difficult—scratch that, impossible—it was to resist a wildland firefighter.

“Nice to meet you, Dianna. Sam tells me you’re looking for your sister?”

“Her name’s April. And I’m afraid she doesn’t have a clue what she’s mixed up with.”

Will handed a map to Sam as they got into the truck. He held the front seat passenger door open for her and her stupid heart actually went pitter-patter at his chivalry.

“I’ve highlighted the route I think you should take to the commune,” Will said. “Any questions?”

Sam studied the map in the extended cab as they exited the hospital’s parking lot. Dianna pulled her hat down tighter over her hair and averted her face as they passed a TV news van.

“Looks pretty clear,” Sam told his friend.

“There’s no cell coverage anywhere in the area,” Will said, looking concerned. “So don’t get hurt, okay? Could take a little while to find you if you do.”

Dianna shivered at his warning. She’d lived in the city for so long she’d forgotten that there were places cell phones couldn’t reach, that you couldn’t always call for help the minute you needed it.

They quickly left town and started climbing into the mountains, the pavement turning to gravel, then dirt. Will switched into four-wheel drive as the road became increasingly primitive and rutted. The three of them remained silent as they drove between tall pines and towering redwoods. Thirty minutes later, he stopped the truck in front of a huge tree trunk that was lying across the road.

“I’m afraid this is as far as I can take you.”

With Will’s engine off, she could hear birds singing, the river gurgling, even the way the breeze was turning the leaves into mild-mannered wind chimes.

Out here, amid mountains and streams, was Sam’s world. This was where he belonged, whereas she was utterly out of her element.

Maybe he’d been right and she should have let him go alone?

She squashed the thought as quickly as it came. It was only fear speaking. She’d been afraid before and she’d survived. Thrived, in fact. She’d do any and everything she had to do to find her sister and bring her home.

After saying his good-byes, Will was clearly reluctant to leave them, and as he slowly turned the truck around and headed down the road, Dianna also wished he would stay a little longer.

Anything to avoid being alone again with Sam.

Her mouth went dry as he held out her loaded backpack. Turning her back to him, she slipped her arms through the straps and braced herself for the heavy weight. But instead of pulling her off balance, it was surprisingly light.

She’d seen how much gear there was to carry the night before, and as he strapped on his own pack, she saw that he was loaded down with most of her things.

“You don’t have to take everything for me,” she said. “I want to do my fair share.”

He barely looked at her. “I’m used to the weight. You’re not.”

Case clearly closed. No discussion. No room for debate. She knew his word was law out here. The question was, would she ever get used to taking orders from a man? From Sam?

Seconds later, he was disappearing into the woods and she had no other choice but to hurry and catch up with him.

The day wasn’t going well so far, Sam thought as he led them down the trail to the river’s edge.

He’d woken up with the best of intentions, planning to smooth over the rough edges they’d pulled up the night before. But then she’d gone and insisted that she would pay him back for the hiking gear and his pride had gotten twisted up all over again.

He’d never been intimidated by anyone’s money before. He still wasn’t. But he couldn’t ignore the dichotomy between her salary and his. His parents hadn’t been happy about his career choice. They’d wanted him to be a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer. But he’d never been comfortable with walls around him. Becoming a hotshot had been a perfect fit.

And then, when she’d met Will, it had seriously grated watching her charm the pants off his friend. The eighteen-year-old Dianna he’d known had never been particularly comfortable with male attention. She’d hidden her curves behind baggy shirts and pants. But now, instead of deflecting a guy’s admiration, or simply ignoring it, she seemed to bask in its glow.

He’d wanted to think it was all an act, a performance she’d honed over the years to get high ratings, but the truth was, she’d always been charismatic, simply lacking in confidence.

Worse still, his instincts were screaming at him to get Dianna out of here. Away from the mountains, from the river and the trails, from the quick-changing weather, from the bears and cougars lurking in the bushes.

The problem wasn’t that she was a woman. He was all for women firefighters. They were easily as tough as the men on the crew, often tougher. Hell, women made it through the agonies of childbirth, then usually went and did it again.

But he couldn’t stand the thought of seeing Dianna hurt. Regardless of what had gone down between them, Sam wanted to know that she was safe and sound, back in a TV studio, her only concern how pretty she looked.

He’d spent plenty of time in the Rockies, both fighting wildfires and vacationing during his off-seasons. Fact was, Dianna wasn’t trained for swimming through level-five white water back to an overturned raft. When Sam was ten years old, he’d cut his teeth on the class-five rapids on the American River in California. He’d been thrown out of the raft a dozen times that day and had knocked his head into enough rocks to have a healthy respect for the immense power of white water.

In a few minutes he was going to take a complete novice on similar waters in a lightweight inflatable raft that was prone to overturning in heavy water.

Was he out of his f**king mind?

She didn’t have the skills to scale a rock face or hike deer trails through thick brambles and dead brush that would rip up her skin. And she’d never been big on heights, he remembered that much.

Shit, who was he kidding? He remembered all of it. Every last thing about her. From the way her nose scrunched up when she laughed to the little sounds she used to make before she exploded beneath him in bed.

Fuck. He couldn’t go there. Not with her a few feet behind him, close enough that he could stop, turn, and kiss her before she knew what hit her.